Reality Check
by pigeonstatuecondundrum
Summary: Janto. The Torchwood team are trapped in a world where Torchwood does'nt exist & Jack and Ianto never met. The only way to escape is to rediscover who they are & how they feel about each other.
1. I

This story has been running through my head since I saw the Episode Of Sarah Jane Adventures called Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane and Doctor Who Turn Left. It's now free!!

Janto, if you're a Gwack fan don't read and go watch another show. no offence.

**Reality check **

**I**

……_running, Gwen had never felt this scared. The __static buzz of her blue tooth earpiece told her she was alone, unless she could find Jack. She tapped it again bursting through to the main part of the Hub._

"_Jack!"_

"_I'm here Gwen."_

_She ran to him the relief on her face obvious to Jack from his vantage point._

"_Something's jamming the blue tooth." She gasped, her breath ragged after her run up the stairs. "And the power's being controlled. The lift's not working."_

"_Where's Ianto?"_

_When his second in command didn't answer at once Jack shook her._

"_Gwen, please…" the mixture of simple terror and pain in Jack's cold eyes made Gwen tremble. Jack couldn't lose Ianto, not now._

"_We got separated," Gwen was to ashamed to look Jack in the eye, "It's my fault, I told him to check the vaults for you."_

_Jack swore. "Something's got in the Hub. Something we've never seen before. Tosh's scanners didn't pick it up." He stated. _

_"That's impossible."_

_Then the screaming started the alien shriek of mirth, murderous joy reverberating around the base. They turn together, like a bad horror movie cliché. Gwen felt a scream and bile rise uncontrollably in her throat. She see the same look she wears mirrored on his Captain, albeit coupled with his own alien understanding grown from long life. _

"_What have you…?"_

Gwen Cooper sat up from her dream gasping for air like a drowned swimmer. The bedroom shimmered around her like she was still trapped in her heart stopping nightmare. Even in the aftermath of her panic Gwen got the feeling something was wrong. Was the bedroom always this big, what were those pictures on the wall, what was that noise out of the window?

"Are you all right love?" Gwen smiled at her husband as he wrapt a comforting arm round her shaking shoulder. Slowly the facts came back to her until Gwen wondered why she hadn't recognized her flat before.

"Sorry Rhys, bad dream."

She looked around her room, nothing was out of place. Her Police uniform lay haphazardly on a chair where she'd abandoned it after the long night shift. Her favourite photo's were on the bedside table, the one's of her a Rhys on honeymoon and the old faded print of her and Jack, her adopted brother, at the age of 15, smiling self-consciously at the camera. The sound of light night traffic filtered through the window of their flat. What ever had happened in her dream, being chased by some alien creature, was not real, obviously.

Gwen needed fresh air; there was an unheard doubt in her head telling her something was very wrong. She stuck her head out of the kitchen window, breathing in the warm Cardiff night air. The city sparkled before her like a gauzy Christmas tree, for a moment she was disoriented, was this the view out of her home. Was this her life? Something about that dream had thrown her. Why did it feel more real to her than now? As if the wind and noise whipping round her head was only some elaborate façade. Gwen took one last gulp of air, preparing to curl back into bed with her husband. A headache brewing, she reached out for a glass to fill with water; perhaps the she would be able to…

"Gwen Cooper."

She started. The glass chinked against the sideboard as she flinched. Water splattered her pyjama top like some bizarre exit wound, not that she noticed.

"Who's that?" she whispered unable to keep the anxious shake out of her voice. It wasn't the eerie silence that followed that scared Gwen. Nor the fact only she could hear the murmur. It was the fact she recognized the voice. It was her own.

...

Jack Harkness stretched out luxurious and catlike in his latest conquest's bed. What was this one called, David? Daniel? Daemon? Yes that was it Daemon. Who ever the hell he was he was snoring like a pig. The sleep of the just Jack thought, rather wittily he thought, as he gathered his pants from where they had been discarded on this guy's cold lino flooring.

Grabbing his coat he was out of the downtown flat in five minutes, no feeling of guilt as he wandered along the mostly deserted pavement. The smell of curry stained the air, wafting from the local takeaway. The blare of music came from a dark alley as teenagers wasted their money in cigarettes and boozy laughter. Neon lights hummed and assaulted his eyes with their brash garish colours.

Jack inhaled it hungrily, a staving man consuming the tastes of life in all shapes and sizes. He thumbed the fastkey on his phone for the local pizza takeaway. He could get it delivered he thought as he entered his flat. You never know, Jack thought with a smirk, it just might be bought by that nice delivery boy that was so partial to his bedside manner…

...

Ianto Jones laughed again as Lisa Hallet giggled as he mercilessly tickled her.

"Ianto…" she gasped, barely able to speak as her fiancé tickled her. They both fell about laughing, totally happy. They lay on the bed, cuddling in silence, not wanting to speak and ruin the moment.

"Have got to go in to work tomorrow?"

"How are the tourists of Cardiff meant to cope otherwise?" Ianto joked.

"You're free at the weekend though," Lisa demanded "We're visiting my parents remember."

Ianto sighed and nodded.

"You promised we'd talk about the wedding." she whined.

Ianto let out a mock groan and Lisa hit him with the pillow.

"You still want to get married right?"

Ianto was surprised by the look of anxiety in her eyes. He kissed her gently.

"Don't be silly, of course I do."

...

Please review. even if to tell me its crap.


	2. II

Now did you like that... thanks for reading on.

**Reality check II **

Gwen checked her hair in the shop window as she rushed to meet Andy at the Police Station. She had overslept, her night full of terrifying images of unearthly creatures. even now in the daylight they where seered into her head. Andy brushed her apologies aside with his usual smile. It wasn't long before they where on call.

Gwen loved her job, protecting Cardiff, but it involved too much running. Like now, chasing a shoplifter through the streets. He was only a teenager; his pimpled scared face looked back at her as he ran with five stolen cigarette packets up his Nike tracksuit. Perhaps this was his first offence, Gwen felt a shard of pity, life couldn't be easy for this boy if he felt to only way he could make a living was to steal.

Andy was behind her, out of breath, but he was close on the boy's tail. That was when Gwen tripped. A lose paving slab sent her spinning, her vision blurry as she bumped her head on the unforgiving concrete. Andy ran past her, desperate to catch the boy.

She tried to get up the throbbing in her head saw to that. Wincing, she gingerly sat up. Gwen was still seeing stars but that couldn't account to what she saw.

Gwen liked to think herself rational, mysterious sighting in the sky were more likely to have more mundane reasons than visitors from the stars. If you hear hoof beats you expect horses not zebras, her mother had always said. But the only way the Cardiff police woman could explain the figure leaning over her, was a ghost. The apparition gave her a comporting smile, the gap toothed grin an exact replica of her own. Everything was disconcertingly the same down to the freckles on her nose to the slight scar on her forehead.

"This can't be…" Gwen's voice shook as she scrutinised her "I've got to be hallucinating, I've bumped my head."

"I wish that was true." Gwen shivered, the tone of voice, the welsh lilt, it was identical to her own, identical to the whisper she'd heard last night.

"Was that you, last night?" She sat up rubbing her head, still in the vain hope this was a very bad dream.

Her doppelganger nodded.

"I don't get this, you can't be real." Gwen groaned.

"I'm afraid it's the other way round. You're a creation, formed to keep the real me down. I'm the real Gwen, Torchwood Gwen if you like."

"What the…"

"Listen." A note of urgency steeled the Torchwood Gwen's voice. A note that made Gwen sit up and listen.

"Something's wrong, very wrong. It's taking all my energy to talk to me now. You've got to find Jack."

"You mean my brother!" this was getting out of control. "What's Jack got to do this?"

"He's trapped too. You need to find Ianto Jones."

"Who, there must be thousands of people in Cardiff with that name." Gwen implored her counterpart.

"If he doesn't meet Jack, we're trapped. If you don't then it's the end of everything."

"Okay." Gwen sat up, her logic returning with a good amount of suspicion. "You're telling me I'm stuck in some Matrix style reality because some monster has me and my brother captured. I don't believe this."

She got up delicately, her head still pounding with her fall and all her look-alike had told her. Even though she was trying not to look back she knew she was still there.

"What about your dreams."

Gwen spun round speechless.

"There echo's of the real you. You need that connection to bring it back. Jack and Ianto need each other."

Suddenly the night terrors hit her. She closed her eyes the sharp clarity making the alley and pavement around her look as crude as a childs drawing. She doubled over reliving her own fear as she was running, running. The sharp adrenaline kicked in as she gasped.

Finally she looked up at her twin, with a tired almost resigned smile.

"It's true."

...

What did you think...


	3. III

Thanks for the loverly reveiws I've already recived. keep them coming

**Reality check III**

**Tuesday 12****th**** October, 11:47 **

I woke up Lisa screaming last night. I had this awful nightmare, the sort it takes you half the morning to recover from. Even after three cups of coffee I still can't understand it.

All I know was I was desperately searching for something, a person or an object I'm not sure. I recall so clearly the way my lungs were gasping for air.

Apparently I was saying "Don't let him be dead, he can't die." in my sleep. Repeating the same words like a mantra, until I woke myself up in panic. Lisa was really worried, I feel so ashamed about scaring her. She's already worried I'll chicken out of the wedding.

Oh that bloody wedding. It's not like I don't want to marry Lisa, I love her after all. It's just seems to much fuss. But I want her to be happy and the only way she's going to be is if she has the whole flower, meringue dress and her mother in a big hat sobbing about "her little girl, all grown up". Not that Mrs Hallet is the sort of woman to cry but…

I'll have to wear a suit. I don't think my suit even fits. The last time I wore it was the interview for this job. It's not like I mind but…… I was wearing a suit in that nightmare, how do I remember that. I can see it now, red shirt, and black tie. The jacket was flapping around me. I don't own a suit like that. I don't have the money to start with, I could sense the hand stitching, and it wasn't a ten pond bargain in M&S.

Hang on Ianto, _sense _that sounds like I'm starting to believe the dream was real. I'm sure I'd never seen the place I was running in before, I would have remembered. The worse part is the more I think about it I start to get a impression of what I was searching for. It was a person, I'm sure of that. But every time I try to picture them my mind starts to wander. As If something doesn't want me to work it out.

All I know is that nothing else mattered to me, in the dream, than finding however it was. The only thing that's clear to me now, in the cold daylight, is the way I felt about them. And I feel so guilty, because it wasn't Lisa I was urgently hunting for.

...


	4. IV

**Reality Check IV**

Gwen was still a little jumpy from the confrontation in the alley. Nothing seemed right anymore, the people milling around that Tuesday seemed like ghosts to her. She almost longed to be ignorant of this reality, just to lose this numbness.

The bell that warbled cheerfully as she entered the Tourist Information Centre next to the Millennium Centre, making her head throb disconcertingly. Gwen almost wished she'd taken Andy's advice to go strait home.

"Hello, can I help you." The guy on duty gave her a smile, kindly but professional. He must say that line to every lost Japanese tourist and every giggling school party. Gwen felt the slight pricking of déjà vu, had she seen this handsome Welshman before.

"Sorry, could you help me?"

"I can have go."

Here we go Gwen thought, its better than nothing "Have you heard of Torchwood."

A frown creased the Welshman's forehead. "Not off the top of my head."

He typed something into the computer next to him, the game of solitaire minimized from the screen quickly.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, to Gwen disappointment but not to her surprise. "I've got nothing, there's a Torchwood House, but that's in Scotland."

Gwen sighed with exasperation, of course it didn't exist. Why had she got her hopes up like that?

"I'm sorry I can't help the police." The guy on the desk added gently. Something about his sincere smile sent another spark of déjà vu through her, had she seen him before?

"Oh no, It's nothing to do with the police." Gwen smiled realizing he must have got the wrong end of the stick at the sight of her uniform.

"Well if you need anything then ask for Ianto Jones."

Gwen blinked as if she'd been slapped. His welsh voice reverberated round her head, _Ianto, I've found him_.

"I'm Gwen," she gasped breathlessly the thrill of success pumping through her like a drug high. "Gwen Cooper."

He looked at her more closely, as if he was hearing, or remembering, something from long ago. Like a radio that had been playing in the the background unintrusivley was suddenly switched off.

"Are you okay?" Gwen asked as the confused look on his face intensified.

"I'm fine" he smiled, offering his hand for her to shake. "I'm sorry; I just thought I might have seen you before."

...

Gwen stood outside the Tourist Information Centre, gathering her racing her racing thoughts as she stared at the cool water trickling down the smooth curves of the water tower. She'd found Ianto Jones. Gwen bit her lip as she remembered the small gold ring on the young mans finger. She still felt it hart to believe that this was all happening in her head. It felt so real, her memories of her life seemed as real as the air in her lungs. Gwen closed her eyes and recalled the ghostly message from herself.

"_Jack and Ianto need each other." _

...


	5. V

Finally some Janto for you all. Thank god.

**Reality check V**

Jack was still in bed with the world's biggest hangover when his phone singing out its jaunty ringtone. Swearing, he fell out of bed, feeling very sorry for himself.

"Gwen?" He crocked, recognizing the caller ID.

"Sorry, Did I wake you."

Jack gather his clothes from the floor and went in to the bathroom.

"What's the matter?" he asked, Gwen wouldn't usually call him unless something was off.

"Are you going near the Millennium Centre this morning?"

"Why?"

There was a note of forced innocence in Gwen's voice. It piqued Jacks interest.

"I was making inquiries at the tourist information centre and I left my coat there." On the other side of the line Gwen Williams smiled.

...

Jack let out a sigh, rubbing the last vestiges of hangover sleep from his eyes, as he opened the door. What was he doing with his life? Jack had this nagging doubt that he was meant to be doing something else, with someone else.

"Hello." He called to the silent room.

"Be with you in a minute."

Jack blinked, did he know that voice? Those lilting welsh vowels stirred something strong in the dark bowls of his memory. The voices owner appeared; Jack looked him up and down. A wave of remembrance hit him like nausea, Jack wanted to sit down. Shards of memory were glass sharp enough to cut him, slicing his every perception of what was real and fake. All he saw before he hit the cold floor was those eyes, cold and blue, staring back at him with the same look of shock.

_...not saying your tactless Ianto"_

"_Yes you are, I miss them as much as you do Jack." Ianto sighed fingering his neatly knotted tie, a sign Jack knew to well. _

"_I'm sick of seeing you ignoring Martha's calls. She only wants to help."_

_Ianto's patient tone grated at his nerves "I'm not. I'm only saying it's too soon to be thinking about replacing Tosh and Owen."_

"_No one could replace them, but Torchwood needs a medic, Gwen and I don't know a thing about alien autonomy."_

_Deep down Jack knew Ianto was right "It's too soon." he repeated._

_Ianto just groaned and walked out the office "Why do I bother."_

"_Ianto..."_

_The Welshman just ignored him and carried on walking._

"_I'm going to the Archives."_

"_Damn it Ianto! Don't you dare walk away from me!" _

_Jack ran his fingers through his hair. How could he explain to Ianto what he was thinking? Nothing made..._

"Hey wake up, are you okay?"

Jack opened his eyes, his sight returning to him as if he was under the water, shapes and colours hard to distinguish after the sharp detail of the vision."

"I'm okay." He muttered trying to sit up. Jack realized his head was resting on someone lap. That certain someone was talking to him gently, Jack felt more secure and happy than he had ever been before.

"You gave me quite a scare."

"Sorry" Jack repeated, he realized he was gripping onto this strangers like a comport blanket.

"It's funny."

Jack looked up at the guy, a puzzled look on his handsome features.

"That's the second time someone been in here and I've felt the strangest sense of déjà vu about them."

"I thought I'd seen you before" Jack sat up a little against the Welshman lap, just getting closer, the stranger moved as well. The way the two men moved closer was instinctive, as if they'd been laying in each others arms all their lives.

"How are you?"

"Jack, Jack Harkness." He felt a bit stupid saying it, as if this was a conversation they'd had a long time ago.

"You are..."

"Ianto..."

Jack's hand ghosted of Ianto's as they stared into each others eyes. Something was gnawing at the back of his mind. Every inch of that face, so close from his own, was scorched into his mind. Like a map of his lost home town. Jack blinked as his palm touched the cold mocking band of mettle on this mans middle finger. He looked down, in shame, noting the way Ianto also bit his lip in embarrassment. _What am I doing_ Jack thought suddenly. _This guy's engaged to someone else. _

Something inside Jack curled up and died. The growing feeling of belonging disappeared as soon as he sat up, suddenly moving away from Ianto.

"My sister, Gwen said she'd left her coat here."

"The police woman?"

Jack nodded, both men where still too uncomfortable to look into each others eyes.

"No she didn't."

Jack sighed, an awkward pause pushed its way between them, icy and uneasy.

"I'd better go. I'm sorry for wasting your time." Jack headed for the door, his shame snapping at his heels urging him to get away from this place. The room that had seems so alive and full of life when he first set eyes on Ianto seemed only dead and dusty.

"It's okay." Ianto smiled uneasily. There eyes locked in an self-conscious stalemate, until Jack walked out the door into the safety of the street. Not sure what he'd have done if he'd let himself stay a second longer in Ianto's presence.

...

Pleace reveiw. more chapters soon. I'll work really hard to finish during Half term.


	6. VI

You people that coment keep me sane. THANK U!! carry on comenting.

**Reality Check VI **

Ianto Jones stood outside the non descript block of flats. If this was a normal evening he'd have walked past them without a second thought. _I must be going mad_ Ianto thought. He was so lost in his thought that he didn't notice the motorbike that had to swerve to avoid him.

"Watch where you're bloody going!" The biker swore. His eyes glared out of his visor angrily.

"Sorry." Ianto muttered.

"Who are you delivering to?" Ianto asked politely as he saw the sign for the local pizza takeaway on the box on the back of his bike.

"Jack Harkness." The youth read off a crumpled receipt. Ianto laughed, and took his wallet out of his pocket.

"How about I do you a deal…"

...

Jack couldn't relax. Tuesday night was the evening he rented a film, lay back on the sofa, drank a beer, or two. But for some reason he couldn't settle. It was as if someone had taken the scene in the Tourist Information Centre and was playing it in front of his eyes, frame by excruciating frame. Something inside him wanted to be back in Ianto's arms. Something had changed; he wasn't content with the world around him. The little voice, which had been whispering so inaudibly before, had his attention. This wasn't right.

The doorbell woke him from his revere. He hauled himself of the settee, He'd been so rapt in his thoughts he'd forgotten about his pizza.

The guy standing on the door step wasn't the usual pimpled youth. Jack's heart leapt into his throat and lent on the door frame, not trusting himself not do anything rash.

"Um, Hi!" Ianto bit his lip "I've got you're pizza."

The both stared at each other, the same searching where-have-I-seen-you-before glare. There confusion turned to laughter as the absurdity of the situation hit them.

Jack accepted the warm pizza box.

"Come in."

Ianto felt he had wanted Jack to say that for a long time.

...

"How did you find me?"

"Phone book." Ianto replied through a mouthful of pizza.

Jack laughed, "you've got tomato sauce on your..."

"Where?"

"Just..." Jack lent forward automatically "there." He whipped the corner of Ianto's mouth. Their first contact since this morning sent a tingle down Jack's body, the first feeling of guilt, his conscience prompting the red lights. Not for the first time Jack let himself fantasized what it would be like to kiss those lips. And from the hint of longing in Ianto's eyes, Jack hoped he was having the same trouble quashing his own feelings.

"Why did you come?" Jack asked just to fill the awkward silence that fell between them like lead.

"It sound's stupid." Ianto sighed, his eyes fixed on the carpet.

"It's just when I saw you, I felt like I..."

"Knew you?"

Ianto looked up, shock clear in the blue pools of his eyes. Jack felt himself lean closer in confident, the bizarre truth bringing them physically closer.

"Ever since I saw you I can't stop thinking about you."

Your not the only one Jack thought as his hand rested tantalising inches from the younger man's.

"I don't know who I am anymore. I keep thinking I'm someone else, the person who knows you. But I can't have met you, or your sister before." The first suggestion of tears welled in his eyes. "I must be losing my grip. This is what it must be like going..."

Ianto stopped midsentence, his train of thought disappearing with his guilt. Jack ran the pad of his thumb over Ianto's lips, his hands now cradling Ianto head in its cool secure hands. They where both speechless, not because they didn't know what to say, but because there was so much to say and so little time to make sense of it all. Ianto closed his eyes, just enjoying the moment. Nothing seemed to exist but Jack, everything else seemed two dimensional and hollow.

"It really doesn't mater if we've met before," Jack breathed, his words ghosted over Ianto's lips "because it doesn't change the way I feel about you."

Ianto reached a shaking hand to pull Jack closer. A need so strong growled in his stomach, so great it obliterated everything else. Jack murmured something he couldn't hear as he lean intoxicatingly closer until...

Ianto leapt away from Jack like he'd been burnt. He rapidly pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket, swearing.

"I don't need to answer..."

Jack's locked with his, a cold stony glare that chilled Ianto.

"No answer it, it's probably Lisa."

God Lisa, Ianto had forgotten her so easily. Guilt stabbed at him mercilessly.

"Hi, sorry Lisa...Yes...sure I'll be home soon...of course."

There eyes locked, unsure of where they stood.

"Yeah, I love you too…" Ianto said to his fiancé "See you soon."

"I don't know…"

"Just go!" Jack snapped, flopping back on the sofa, all the passion and love drained out him.

"I'm so, so, sorry."

Jack didn't look up as he heard the door slam. He lay still for a few moments lost in his misery. He closed his eyes, knowing if he opened them the tears would overwhelm him.

...

good? bad? pleace coment and I'll try and finish it.


	7. VII

Not very proud of this. Oh well... Please coment as usual.

**Reality Check VII**

The feeling of despair was as strong as the sour aroma of spilt beer. Gwen Williams wrinkled her nose delicately as she cautiously entered he 'brother's' flat. In the oppressing gloom Jack's body was an angry black impression on the stained sofa, his cold eyes shining like angry headlights. Even the daylight hadn't dared to enter the flat, as if Jack's black mood was strong enough to drive all the early morning warmth from the room.

"Jack…" Gwen murmured concern plain in her green eyes. He just kept on staring at the dark ceiling, Gwen reached out a hand to touch Jack, he didn't move, she was as much a part of the room to him as the pizza box on the coffee table.

"What's wrong? Please Jack, what can I do?"

Jack groaned, but still didn't look at her.

"Why did you send me to find that bloody jacket?"

Gwen didn't know what to say, the pain and grief in Jack's voice rendered her speechless.

"What's happened?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Jack said, all hope gone from his voice, totally resigned to his fate.

"Try me."

There was something in Gwen's voice that interrupted his wallowing self pity. It was like steel rope, pulling him up short, finally able to look her in the eye. It was if he was seeing her for the first time, or if he was seeing her again after a long time…

"The guy working there, at the information centre, Ianto. I just…"

Jack bit his lip. "I felt like I …"

"Knew him." Gwen finished jadedly as if they were discussing the weather.

Jack stared at her as if she was an alien, a small unsure smile growing on his lips.

"The way he looked at me, the way he walked, it seemed so… real, as if I'd loved it for so long. And, god, when he smiled I felt so… safe."

Gwen nodded.

Jack cradled his head in his hands, and not because the hangover was getting to him.

"I've never wanted something this bad. He's all I can think about. Perhaps it's because he's engaged, I only want what I can't have."

"Bullshit."

Jack blinked; Gwen had spat the word out like a lemon pip.

"Don't you dare fool yourself. You can't give up on what you want so badly."

"Why not?" Jack stuck out his bottom lip; he could have almost been a petulant three year old if the look in his eyes wasn't so tired.

"_Because it's the only way to escape this fake alternate reality." _Gwen thought.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

"Ianto, you would tell me if something was wrong?"

Ianto thanked god she couldn't see his exasperated expression down the phone.

"Of course Lisa."

"I love you Ianto…"

Oh great, she was crying. Ianto could hear her gasping for breath as tears overwhelmed her on the other side of the line. He lent against the wall of the back room of the Tourist Information Centre, the dark hiding the guilt he felt weighing his heart down like a stone.

"Lisa. I'm sorry. We need to talk later... okay?"

It was if the tears where contagious. As soon as he ended the call his legs buckled under him.

"I can't do this." he said to himself, the tears dripping unattended across his face.

Ianto felt those arms surround him, as if he'd imagined them out of his heartache, but he knew he couldn't have conjured something this perfect. The lips he'd woken himself up aching for ran softly across Ianto's tear stained face, hot breath evaporating his tears and misery from him. That perfect American accent, like the richest cup of coffee, caressed his name. When he said, it's going to be alright, Ianto could almost believe him. He could have believed anything in the security of those arms.

Jack stared into Ianto's pained eyes, moisture clinging to his eyelids like the most precious of diamonds.

"I didn't hear you come in." Ianto's whisper was too small to hold all the emotion raging all his body. Ianto took Jack had holding on to it like a life preserver.

"I wish I'd done this the moment I'd seen you."

With no preamble their lips met. Ianto gasped. It was if Jack had thrown the auto-focus on his sad little world. He could finally see how shabby the world around him was. Jack was the only thing that didn't look like it had been created by a sculptor with only the smallest idea of what earth looked like. For a second Ianto knew who he was.

Ianto buried his face into Jack's neck, greedily inhaling the smell he loved and knew so well. He felt Jack smile as he ran his finger through Ianto's hair.

"We need to talk, don't we?"

Before Jack could answer they heard the bell ringing in the main area. It sounded like a funeral knell. High heal clicked on the cold lino in staccato gunshots.

"Ianto?"

Jack could feel every muscle in Ianto's body stiffen and tense. He was a rabbit caught in the headlights of a very big car.

"Oh hello."

Someone else entered the room, unseen by the two men, hiding like guilty school children behind the bike shed. Jack blinked, confused. What was Gwen doing here?

"Hi, are you working here?"

"Sure." Jack prayed that Lisa didn't see Gwen's nose twitch, "Ianto's out for a bit."

"How long did he say he'd be gone?" Ianto's girlfriend demanded.

"An hour, or two… Not sure."

Ianto heard the old leather chair squeak as Gwen sat down at the desk, making the awkward pregnant pause even more prolonged.

"Do you want me to pass on message?" Gwen asked blithely.

"Um…No, I'd better be…"

Ianto held his breath as if his life depended on it.

"You guys owe me." Gwen said calmly after the door to the had slammed firmly shut.

With a small laugh she left.

Very slowly Ianto stood up; his arms still twinned round Jack.

Jack bit his lip as he looked into his lovers eyes; he ran a soft finger across the lips he could still taste.

"We need to talk…"

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._


	8. VIII

A huge apology. It's taken me so long to get this written. I hope it's worth the wait.

**Reality check VIII**

Every thing seemed to be against him, or was that wishful thinking. Guilt gnawed like rat in Ianto's stomach as he made his solitary way, through the driving rain, to Jack's apartment.

Had it only been last night he'd stood indecisively on this doorstep, the grease from the pizza box soaking into his jacket. He could hear the rain assaulting the uneven tarmac outside, the cars roaring past. It didn't seem believable any more; the only thing that made sense was Jack.

This 'stranger' who he felt as if He'd known for so long, as if a small part of him had been waiting for him all this life.

Ianto's knock seemed too echoed hollowly to his ears. His cool control snapped when he finally saw Jack. The American didn't seem too surprised to find Ianto's arms wrapped tightly round him like a life preserver. Ianto buried his face into Jack's coat, inhaling the disquietingly familiar smell.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

"Perhaps we wanted to know each other?" Ianto considered slowly. Jack watched him as the Welshman fidgeted uncomfortably on his sofa, as if unsure why he was here. "You don't really believe that do you?"

Ianto met Jacks slightly amused smile with a blush.

"I'm only trying to be rational." He muttered, fiddling distractedly with the edge of one of Jack's sofa cushions.

"That wouldn't explain why this feels so ordinary," Jack mused, bringing the stained coffee mug to his lips. He had to give his hand something to do or they would end up worrying the cushions like Ianto. "As if we've done this all before."

"It's different for me," Ianto grimaced at the taste of Jack's coffee, putting the mug down firmly on the table before continuing his train of thought. "You're so predictable."

"Me, predictable." That was a first.

"Yes." Ianto laughed ironically, fiddling the collar of his shirt. As if he was straitening a subconscious tie. Another wave of déjà vu hit Jack, he would drown in it soon.

"It's like we're replaying the same tape, over and over again. There's a voice in the back of my mind nagging me to get a move on because we don't have much time together."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, chewing over the words slowing, gauging their meaning.

"What if we're not together, wherever we met before? This is as far as we've got before…"

"No, I…" Jack knew in his heart of hearts that it was true. "Perhaps we are like that, but does that really matter."

"Err, yes it does." Ianto snapped, sarcasm flavoring his words with a kick.

"Not the way I see it." Jack took Ianto's hands in his, forcing those ice blue pits to stare into his. "We're together right now. And I love you right now."

Ianto blinked. Once, twice.

"I take it back," he breathed "You are not predictable. You've certainly never said that before."

Jack smirked as he rapt his arms round Ianto. So easy, so natural.

"And do you…" Jack murmured into the top of Ianto's head.

"Of course I do. Isn't that obvious."

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

_The Hub was silent. There had never been such a silence. The day that Jack left there had been silence, every ones minds reeling to fast to speak. The day Tosh died there had been silence, the sort that can only be broken by weeping. But this was different because someone was talking. _

_Gwen Cooper lay on the floor of the gantry above the Hub. Blood dripped from her nose, making a small unheeded puddle on her pale cheek. She was so still she could almost be dead, but the dead are perhaps a little more peaceful._

"_Let them go."_

"_Why should my answer have changed." A whisper like nails down a black board replied. _

"_Let them go. We can help you get home. We can help you…" Her voice trailed of, like bad reception on a radio, simple to tune out "Let them go."_

_Her jailer straitened up. He watched dispassionately as the pterodactyl wheeled, screaming to waken the dead.__ Myfanawy knew something was wrong. The alien intruder turned to go, bored of the woman at his mercy._

"_We will fight." A change of tone. The alien would have looked surprised, but nothing surprised him, he'd been playing this game to long._

"_This planet is defended." _

_The monster looked down at the almost corpse at his feet. Fervor and her own blood coloring her white cheeks. it would have laughed if it could._

"_I dare say you will."_

_The Hub was silent. There had never been such a silence. The day that Jack left there had been silence, every ones minds reeling to fast to speak. The day Tosh died there had been silence, the sort that can only be broken by weeping. But this was different because someone was talking. _

__

"_Let them go."_

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Pretty please reveiw. tell me what you think even if it stunk.


	9. IX

I am so supprised at your kind comments. That last chapter was crap. I hope this is an improvement.

**Reality Check IX**

_This is wonderful. Seems like ages since we… Well I have been busy, not that that's much of an excuse where Ianto's concerned. Since Tosh and Owen died we've had to work twice as hard. Perhaps Ianto's right. I should think about employing someone else. Tosh and Owen would want that, right. Perhaps I should ring Martha, I will. I'll do it this morning. Not just yet though. No, I'm going to enjoy this…_

_Perhaps today will be quiet, I can only hope. I would be nice to not have to go Weevil hunting. Though it does have its advantages… Stop smirking; you're going to wake Ianto. But then that might not be a bad thing. _

Ianto Jones stretched, suddenly disorientated as he took in his surroundings. The light airy bedroom felt strangely dark and oppressive. He twisted to look at Jack, like when he was a child, turning to look at his parents to see if he was doing the right thing.

Jack had his eyes closed a small suspicious smirk on his lips. Ianto pressed closer lost in the echo of last night.

"What are you smirking about?"

"Weevil hunting." Came the sleep infused reply.

"What?"

Jack opened his eyes, his forehead creasing in concentration.

"Weevils there, you know, they…"

"Jack?"

Jack shook his head. "God, I'm sick of this."

"We'll work it out." Ianto said slowly and carefully. He could feel Jack annoyance vibrate through his body like fire. He pressed a gentle kiss on his neck, Jacks pulse ragged.

"I promise"

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Gwen's awakening wasn't as smooth. She woke a sweating and gibbering wreck. Her dreams where so vivid, the sight of her blood contrasting with the deathly pallor of her cheeks. She could almost hear her voice swearing revenge on the alien that had her prisoner in her mind. But another thing worried Gwen. Where were Jack and Ianto in this madness? Did the alien have them captured in another part of the building.

"Where are you going?"

Rhys. It hurt Gwen to look at him; because he wasn't her husband. She tried to remind herself this firmly whenever those puppy dog eyes made her feel so helpless. She couldn't do this, who was she kidding. She was a normal Cardiff police woman not some action hero alien killer.

"I'm going to see Jack." She murmured, tear welling up inside her.

"But you saw him yesterday." He said. Gwen looked at the man that sat at the breakfast table, toast crumbs and coffee stains on his dressing gown. She hated herself.

How could she even think this man was Rhys? Her Rhys, the one she loved, warts and all. This was an insult, a shame created from her memories. She was not helpless.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Knock, Knock.

"Who's that?"

"How should I know?"

"Oh sod it, they'll go away eventually."

"You sure… Jack!"

"Mmmm… Ianto…"

Knock, Knock, knock.

"There not going to go away."

"Damn!"

KNOCK, KNOCK.

"What if it's Lisa? I'm staying here."

"I gathered that."

"Jack, it's me, Gwen." The door muffled her voice but not the steely tone.

Jack lifted his confused face from Ianto's chest. "What does she want?" he groaned.

"You'd better go see." Ianto muttered begrudgingly.

Jack rolled out of bed. A martyred expression crossing his face as his feet reached the cold carpet.

Gwen knocked on the door again, knuckles raw in the cold morning air, cheeks glowing with impatience.

"Jack!"

"I'm coming."

An annoyed looking Jack opened the door. She recognized the expression on his face immediately. Hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar, again.

"Hi, just popping by?" The question came out more as an order than a polite question.

Gwen smiled breezily "He's here isn't he."

Before Jack could start to formulate a vaguely convincing reply Gwen had swanned into his flat.

"Hi Ianto!" she called out to the closed bedroom door.

"Gwen…" Jack started to reproach. But he was stopped short; he had never seen such a determined look in Gwen's eyes. Well, not in this life…

"It's time we all talked." Gwen sat on the sofa. Ianto entered the room, sharing a perplexed look with Jack.

She spoke as if she'd planned what to say. In truth Gwen had sat up all night, trying to fit her words and feelings into a sensible order.

"We need to sort this out. We need to decide who we are."

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Comment as usal, please.


	10. X

Just a short one, to get the suspence up.

**Reality Check X**

"So...do you believe me?"

Jack sighed. He tried to concentrate on Ianto's hand in his, the physical contact rooting him to common sense.

"I don't know what I won't believe now days. Aliens." He blew out a spurt of air like a beached whale, "Make sense I suppose."

And it did. His brain accepted Gwen's story with relative ease, the voice in the back of his rolling its eyes to say _well, dur_.

A sudden icy shot of pain shot through Jack. Like knifes across his brain. He heard a deathly scream, like a bird in agony, metal scrapped other a black board. Ianto turned to him, concern etched across his brow. Jack griped Ianto's hand tightly, his eyes screwed up. His other hand pressed to his leg.

"_Jack are you okay?"_

"_Jack, Jack…" _

Jack could hear them but he couldn't reply. It was all he could do to stop the scream, the torture in his leg was unbearable. His head was going to explode. He wanted to die.

Then, as if someone had turned the tap off, the pain ended. Jack sat up dazed, blinking as if thrown into bright sunlight. His leg itched again, but nothing like the gut wrenching sting that had incapacitated him before.

He looked up at Ianto. Only now able to feel anything else but pain, he was able to appreciate the calming influence of Ianto's strong arms around him. Ianto's face was pained, as if watching Jack's agony had imparted some of the anguish into him.

"What was that?"

Jack looked at Gwen, both their faces mirrored the others confusion.

"It was like my leg was on fire."

They all stared at Jack perfectly healthy limb. There was really nothing they could say.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

dun dun dar! what do you think???


	11. XI

Another short one... sorry.

**Reality Check XI**

_Fragment of Torchwood Alien Report- 9743645765678_

_Level 5 – Known Hostile_

The Trickster

_Compiled By SJSmith_

Note from IJones

_Thank you Miss Smith. Your help is much appreciated. If Torchwood can help you in any way we'd be very pleased to. _

_Ps. send my thanks to Luke. The diagrams were amazing. _

The Trickster

_Planet of Origin – Unknown_

_Last Seen - 17/11/08_

_Known associates - _the Graske (see file 123235456678)

The Trickster is a being who feeds on chaos to survive. Will do anything to survive. Do not…

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Jack could never get used to that, the amazing overwhelming surge inside of him. Every nerve burnt, in a good way. His skin tingled like someone had sent an electric shock. Jack could never get used to the sensation of being brought back to life.

He took gluttonous, needy gasp of air. The slight aftermath of pain itched in his leg. But this wasn't as troublesome as the pain in his head. The Captain wrapped his arms round his head, like a child. Words and phrases crowded his head.

His memories were blotchy cubist paintings. Colors and shades standing out boldly, people like uninteresting stick men. He remembered Ianto and Gwen. There presence had burnt his retina; they were stuck like smudges on a photograph in his mind. It was like a nightmare he couldn't shift. A nightmare that seemed so real when seeing it but in the harsh common sense of reality was almost laughable.

Slowly realization dawned on Jack. The realization he'd been tricked was worse than any physical agony that he'd lived through. Because he may not be in pain, but his team, his friends were.

Jack was so angry his black cloud obliterated any other feeling. But soon he realized two things. One, something had taken a bloody bite out of his leg. Two, Myfanawy was sitting in the gantry above him as if waiting for something.

Jack could tell the mood of the Torchwood guard dog quite well now. He remembered the first time Ianto had fed the giant beast. The cool way she'd observed the imperceptible shaking of Ianto's knees as the Welshman tried to interest her in the bucket of cod before her.

Myfanawy glanced down at him like that now. As if bored by humans already and was inspecting something more fascinating. She was a very ugly angel at the top of the Christmas tree. Her dark leathery skin almost blended into the steel and light décor of the Hub.

Jack groaned as he finally inspected his leg. His remembrance of the pain was like a story he'd been told long ago by a close friend. It didn't affect him. The gash in his leg was bloody, but rapidly healing. It had Myfanawy's autograph all over it. Jack would have almost said she looked smug.

"Why did you do that?" Jack asked. He expected no answer. Which was just as well because he didn't get one.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

good? bad? what do you think.


	12. XII

**Reality Check XII **

Jack remembered now.

_"That's impossible."_

_Then the screaming started the alien shriek of mirth, murderous joy reverberating around the base. They turn together, like a bad horror movie cliché. Gwen felt a scream and bile rise uncontrollably in her throat. She saw the same look she wore mirrored on her Captain, albeit coupled with his own alien understanding, grown from a long difficult life. _

"_What have you done to Ianto?" Jacks anger was more potent than his fear, his thoughts of Ianto stronger than caution._

"_The great Torchwood..." The creature hissed to himself, as if the humans in front of his won't worth his notice. _

_Jack drew his Webley, his change of stance altering the mood considerably._

"_What have you done to Ianto?" his voice shook less as he repeated his earlier demand, the cold gun in his hand. He had something to aim for now._

"_Jack, what is it?" _

_Jack didn't turn to look at Gwen, his attention was fully on the intruder._

"_You know what I am Captain." The creature seemed to smirk though its impassive voice didn't change._

"_Trickster." He spat as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth._

"_I believe my full title is the Trickster God." It turned his head from them, looking round at the Hub as if it was simply admiring the décor. _

"_I saw what your band did in Dale Mericalo." Jack spat at the creatures back, it didn't seem at all bothered by the gun held at him. _

"_Indeed." The creature murmured, bored "A personal favorite. Did you see what we did in the deserts of Sas V? That's what I'm planning for here."_

"_Do I want to know what happened at Dale Mericalo?" Gwen asked. Jack saw she was moving ever so softly towards the Trickster."_

"_It was a blood bath." Jack raised his voice slightly, hoping the alien would concentrate on him instead of his colleague, who was edging closer to their adversary. _

"_There was a civil war. I was there for the Time Agency, overseeing the peace negations. I barely escaped with my life. That… thing exploded the main assembly hall and then sold deadly nuclear weapons when the two fractions started to fight again. Nearly everyone died of three types of radiation poisoning."_

"_Happy days, happy days…" the creature crooned in deadpan "If I remember… Oh Miss Cooper, I expected better."_

_Gwen had leapt at the Trickster. As if he had expected it, the monster turned round shot her with crimson light. She crumpled like a rag doll. Her nose bled onto the gantry, her eyes closed to the world. _

_Jack stooped to her._

"_What have you done? If you've killed…"_

"_Don't be so melodramatic Captain. She's… sleeping. Now tell me where Ianto Jones is."_

"_You mean you don't know?" Jack didn't know whether to be relived or cry. _

"_This place is in lockdown. He's not going to get away."_

_Suddenly the Jack went flying. His gun made a small clatter on the ground, like a penny at the bottom of a well. His body hit the ground seconds later his vision filled with red light that slowly faded to black. The last thing he heard was _Myfanawy screaming like a belated alarm.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Sorry it's taken so long. please reveiw.


	13. XIII

**Reality Check XIII**

"Gwen, Gwen… Wake up come on. I know you can do this. You nearly did it before."

_Gwen blinked. She looked at Ianto, who returned her puzzled look. _

"_Did you hear__ him?"_

"_Hear what? Gwen, Gwen!"_

Gwen had woken from a coma before, but it was nothing like this. She sat up suddenly, breathing great lungs of air like a drowning man. Her eyes streamed with tears.

"Its okay, it's okay." Soothed the presence gripping her hand. "You're going to be fine."

"Jack" she whimpered. "I was in your flat then…"

"Shush… You're safe. In a minute we'll find Ianto, and then we'll stop the Trickster. You'll be curled up on the Sofa watching Strictly Come Dancing with Rhys by tonight."

Gwen gave a small hysterical giggle into Jack's chest. As she lifted her head she saw Jacks leg. She nearly screamed.

Jack gave a brave wince. "She bit half my leg off, thank god I heal quickly."

"She?"

Jack watched as the offending dino wheeled above them, like a general surveying her battle scared troops before the next assault.

"Why did she do that?" Gwen murmured.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I did keep her to be the guard dog though" He winced again as Gwen helped him stand.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

They made there way down the stair, jacks still healing leg slowing their progress. Myfanawy sat watching them emotionlessly from above, her head moved backwards and forward, as if searching for something. _You and me both _Jack muttered as Gwen helped his stumbling passage down the stairs.

Tosh's workstation, the one that no one could walk past without feeling some guilt, was going crazy. Ominous warning lights pulsed on the screen. The warning siren only just covered the sound of Jack's profanities as his fingers raced across the keyboard.

"What's happened?"

Jack didn't answer, couldn't answer, strait away.

"Sas V" he murmured.

"Jack, please!" Gwen had drawn her gun; it was a pointless action but in was almost an automatic response.

"Sas V, was destroyed when the planetary systems was blown up with nuclear missiles." Jack's voice was devoid of emotion. He was a drained man.

"They had the best defense system in the Galaxy but they were destroyed. No one knew how the system was switched off."

"I think were about to find out." Jack whispered.

"Can't you switch it back on?"

Jack gesticulated exasperatedly at the jumble off incomprehensible letters and numbers crowding all four of Tosh's screens.

"That's what I'm trying to do but…"

He saw Gwen's eyes widen in terror out of the corner or his eye. Before he knew what had happened she had tackled him under the desk.

Jack had barely registered the pain in his grudgingly healing leg, his lungs complaining about the precious air that had been knocked from them. He smelt the unmistakable aroma of burnt hair, his hair. Fragments of burnt plastic and glass fell from the place Jack had been moments before.

He looked up to see the Trickster lying standing by the cover of the cog door. The sight of Ianto's body, lying bloody and broken on the ground by the monster tore at Jack's heart.

I'm nearly there. one last chapter and the epilogue to go. sorry, as alway, that it's been so long. comments make my day.


	14. XIV

**Reality Check XIV **

"Ianto!" Jack's cry was a reflex, the sight of his Ianto broken on the floor made a voice in his head scream as he felt the pain as empathetically.

"You always have to go for the dramatics Captain." the Trickster hissed, giving the human at his mercy a swift kick. Gwen and Jack winced.

"Jack?" Gwen murmured as she hid uselessly under the keyboard. Jack stood slowly, and walked in small commanding steps towards the monster. Ianto stirred and his eyes fluttered lightly like tiny butterflies emerging into the blinding sunlight from their chrysalis.

Ianto stared. Not at the alien that held him captive not at his immortal captain or his frightened teammate. He turned his face to the ceiling; the light shimmered across his face like a prisoner finally released into the sun. His eyes connected with something, he gave an imperceptible nod.

All hell broke loose.

Jack staged back as a gust of wind shot passed him in a brown leathery blur. Ianto rolled out the way, hitting his head with a bang that was lost in the pandemonium of other noises. Gwen screamed and jumped out from under the desk as the same shapeless blur knocked over a monitor.

The Trickster stared at the Pteranodon; if you didn't know better you'd think it was fear that disfigured his face into a grimace.

Myfanawy seemed to wait a moment before giving an ear drum splitting screech. Jack, not caring for a second for his own safety, dived at Ianto at the same time the dinosaur launched itself at the alien.

Jack wrapped his body round Ianto's and pulled him away from the carnage.

"Gwen, press the enter key, press…" his command was cut short as the Trickster gave out an agonizing scream.

Gwen pulled herself together and followed Jacks orders. Her fingers raced over the keys as fast as Jack directed, missing Tosh's delicate precise touch typing at every key stroke.

Jack held Ianto to him, stroking the top of his hair.

"Its okay, it's okay." He murmured, trying to convince himself.

Ianto watched Myfanawy fight for her life unblinkingly. His eyes never left her as her screams mingled in awful harmony with the Tricksters. He didn't flinch as blood spattered his jacket.

Myfanawy suddenly knocked her adversary to the floor; it was as if Jacks mind was playing tricks on him. The huge Pteranodon seemed to turn to the tiny cowering Ianto, staring intently at him as he had moments before she attacked.

Her sharp maw connected for the last time. The Trickster's body seemed to leap in the air like a cruel puppeteer had jerked its strings. The body seemed to suspend in midair before it melted like grains of sand disappearing forever.

Myfanawy's victory cry was hollow as if her triumph meant nothing to her. She was unemotionally attached to it.

She stretched her scratched blood stained face toward Ianto. Jack and Gwen automatically fell back, but Ianto was still.

They stared at each other. The human and the dinosaur. Ianto reached out a trembling hand and touched an unsacred piece of flesh. Myfanawy flew suddenly into the air, Ianto stood to better see her progress. The whole thing took less than a moment but it stayed in Jack's mind for a long time.

"Why did she do that?" Gwen whispered.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

Two hour latter Ianto sat in his dark flat, crying. He cried because of what he remembered of the Tricksters world, the simplicity and the happiness. He cried because of the Lisa he'd never had. He cried because of the Jack that could never exist. Then he cried because the memory was fading. Like the old sepia toned photos he filed every day. He just couldn't remember.

The doorbell wrung. He opened the door his eyes red and blotchy. Ianto's heart leapt into his throat and lent on the door frame, not trusting himself not do anything rash.

"Um, Hi!" Jack bit his lip "I've got you pizza."

They looked at one another, unsure why that action struck such a cord in them. Jack dropped the box onto the hall table as he flung himself into Ianto's waiting arms.

They held on to another as they desperately tried to hold the fake memories of straightforward times. A time when a simple I love you didn't mean a death sentence as you watched the one you love grow old, when watching the sunrise over Cardiff didn't make you wonder if it would be your last, when you didn't have to worry about the universe safety before your own.

Jack kissed Ianto, trying desperately to truly express the love, fear and loneliness he felt every day. And Ianto, after all they'd been through, smiled.

"We're really going to be okay." He whispered into Jack's chest. Jack returned his smile, a lone tear trickling down his cheek

"_I finally told you I love you, but by tomorrow neither of us will remember." _He thought.

"Why did Myfanawy save us?" Ianto asked. Jack shrugged. "Perhaps we'll never know."

Jack picked up the pizza box and dropped it onto the kitchen table. Ianto made coffee and jack found the cutlery and plates. For perhaps an evening they could play the game of domestic bliss.

But the truth was, Ianto thought, as he gazed at Jack, metaphorically separated by more than the table, that neither of them were suited to the rules.

Even in the Trickster's world they'd known that. In his heart Ianto knew that they both could never be truly happy with normality. Not like Gwen, to who ordinariness a dug she needed regally to keep sane, but Ianto had ended that love affair with that sweet addiction they day Lisa died. And Jack, well, he'd never taken the first dose to start with.

Jack reached out his hand and linked his fingers with Ianto's. Ianto gave his would be lovers hand a reassuring squeeze. Sure, they didn't need to play the game but that didn't mean they couldn't try. Just for tonight, just for a while.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

**I'm so so so sorry it's taken so long. only the epilogue to go and your free. there's one question that needs clearing up. All my love, please reveiw. **


	15. Epilogue

**I want ot thank everyone who has commented on this story and put up with the eratic publising. This ending was'nt even going to happen. Jack was going to find some boring way to get out of the dream. **

**One Cross Country Lesson I was running down the twin hedges (if anyone know the Archbishiops school Cross Country route you know what I mean) when it came to me. Myfanawy's resucue was born. **

**Epilogue **

**65**** million years ago**

The sun shone with a magnesium bright flare, the deep redness staining the tops of the trees blood red. The trees grew to the waters edge. This place would be Cardiff, home to the ancestors of creatures that hadn't even come down from the trees yet.

But the inhabitants of the forest didn't know this. They only knew of the instinct to survive, to reproduce and teach there offspring to do the same.

A female Pteranodon sat in a tree. Her wings smattered with dappled sunlight. She was protected from the predators that would hurt her and, more importantly, her young. That was how it was done.

Her eyes trailed the sky for her mate, and the food he would bring their young. It was as calm and quiet as it could ever be. She looked at her young, their pale bodies and screwed up eyes. She remembered her first borns, birthed nearly two years ago. She remembered watching them grow. She knew with logical patience that she would see it again.

And so the Pteranodon that would be known as Myfanawy lived. Until that day.

A blinding flash singed the bottom leaves. A heat wave rose up the tree, racing the scream that now reverberated round the forest to the top canopy.

Myfanawy's natural instinct was to fly, fly far away until she knew enough to destroy this new threat. But that was quelled by the fear for the wellbeing of her little ones. She made low noises in the back of her throat to tell them she was here.

Mummy would protect them, whatever the cost.

She craned her neck to see three creatures she had never seen before. They stood up right like the hairy creature in the low trees, but there faces were flat and smooth, there eyes set in the front of there heads instead of to the side.

If she hadn't felt the heat wave before Myfanawy would have thought them easy prey. And for the first time in history she felt an emotion that wasn't rational and logical. Fear.

Myfanawy heard a call. Her heart soared with her mate as he swooped low over the trees. For the first time his hunting call didn't awake her young into a rabid frenzy, they too were under the spell of this new emotion.

He dived at one of the creatures with a blood curdling shriek. Myfanawy had never seen him lose against anything of anyone. She felt so much pride as he went again and again for the intruder's chest, getting nearer and nearer to victory.

The other two Tricksters watched as their brother fought the native creature. They didn't move, watching almost indifferent to the struggle. Then, as if the Trickster had suddenly got bored by the fight, he plunged his hand into the Pteranodon chest.

Myfanawy let rage consume her as she saw the creature toss her only loves body on the ground. The first time his feet had touched the ground. Now she learnt a new emotion from fear. Revenge.

She didn't think of her children as she attacked the monster blindly, her maw coming to grip the sensitive neck.

"Help me." It rasped through its last breath. His brothers never moved. Its body jerked in the air before falling to the ground as dust.

"You really shouldn't have done that." One of last creatures rasped. Myfanawy just registered something that shined like the water, but as thin as a twig pointed at her before everything went black.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._

This was not right, she had never been so confined. There was no word for where she was after a life of wide open spaces.

She screeched again, where were her babies, where was home.

"Oh God!"

She saw something small down the other side of this cage. It looked like the monster that had sent her from far away. She flew at it, suddenly wheeling round when she saw they were nothing alike.

Ianto staggered back as the thing that looked awfully like a dinosaur flew at him. He fell to his feet at about the same time the creature did, taking a few tentative steps across the floor. Even though he was in serious danger Ianto was in awe.

"You're beautiful."

Myfanawy looked at the creature before her. His tone of voice sounded like the one she adopted when southing a babe. The fact this puny thing was treating her like a child annoyed her.

"Bloody hell, a real life Pterodactyl, or is it Pteranodon? This is turning too much into the Twilight Zone for my taste." He paused confused.

"You can't stay here." he said gently.

Myfanawy attention was suddenly taken by the strange smelling rectangle that had fallen from the folds of material surrounding the new creature when he fell. She put her beak to it, trying to open it.

This amused Ianto no end.

"It's chocolate." He gently picked it up and open it, breaking the bar in half and tentatively putting it near the Pteranodon maw.

"Are you meant to give chocolate to dinosaurs?" he mused aloud as he watched the Pteranodon swallow the last of the bar.

"Oh well, don't send me the bill if you get fillings." He grinned.

"Ianto."

Both man and dinosaur turned towards the agonized cry. Ianto leapt to his feet, going through an ajar door. Through the gap Myfanawy could see another of the new creature, but horribly different. Parts of her body were smooth like the monsters in the forest.

"It's okay Lisa." Ianto soothed stroking her face, kissing her forehead.

"What is it." She whispered. Her words slurred in pain.

"I think it's our ticket into Torchwood Three.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._

The last Trickster howled as he felt the death of his brother. With the first dead in the prehistoric period and now the other killed in the 21st he was alone.

He screamed in rage. The sound silent in the nothingness of the void.

They had been the last of their kind. Their home planet was a perfect world of volcano's and ice hurricanes. It had been destroyed in the time war.

So they had come to earth. Drawn like wounded moths to a flame, to the chaos and unpredictability that surrounded that small insignificant rock. They had assumed many names but none as effective as the Erinyes, the angry ones, the Furies.

They were meant to be obsessed with justice, but nothing could be more untrue. Chaos had followed them like a patient dog, and it had been a faithful and welcome companion. But they never forgot who had destroyed their home. The Time Lords would pay.

So, bored by Grease, they had traveled to the Triassic period, moments before the meteor hit the earth, wiping out almost an entire planets worth of creatures. Perfect.

But instead Alecto had been killed by a Pteranodon, and he and Megaera had gone their separate ways. He had decided to track down the last of the monsters that had destroyed his home. The Doctor. He had tried to kill his friends twice but had never succeeded. He had come so close to taking the Doctors companion but had failed again. The defeat felt sour in his proverbial stomach.

And now Megaera was dead, killed by the same creature that had killed Alecto and somehow survived the trip through the rift. Megaera had tried to destroy Torchwood, another string bound to the Doctor that must be cut.

Perhaps he had gone about this wrong. Perhaps he should, what was the quaint earth expression, put all his eggs in one basket. Not his eggs, he corrected, the Doctors.

Alecto and Megaera murderer would die, he would see to that. And so would the Doctor, for his crime against the Trickster race. And so would Sarah Jane and Captain Jack and… Well there was quite a list.

The last Trickster smiled. The Greeks had named him well, Tisiphone. It means avenging murder, and Tisiphone meant to do just that.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Myfanawy took to the air. She hadn't forgotten what those monsters had done to her love, and neither would they. She knew with unshaken certainty that she would meet the last one again. And he would die, just like his brothers.

She looked down to see Ianto enter the place she now thought of as home, his hand linked with the Captain's. They looked so pathetic and weak to her. But Myfanawy had seen them fight and beat adversary again and again.

She remembered with a pang of nostalgia her long lost children. Ironic how small they had started out, and by now they could have grown to be as powerful as her.

Perhaps her new children weren't that different after all.

Ianto let go of Jack's hand and walked toward the Coffee machine. But Jack pulled him back.

"I love you."

Ianto's expression didn't change.

"I know. I love you too."

They both smiled and walked away. Ianto looked up as he reached the top floor of the Hub; Myfanawy flew next to him as if expecting something, closer than she'd ever flown before.

"I love you too." Ianto murmured as he unwrapped a bar of dark chocolate.

"Thank you."

If Myfanawy could have replied she would have told him the feeling was mutual.

The end………For now.

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._

**You know the drill. I really, really, really want ot know what you think. if you've been reading this and wated to wait till the end to comment then this is your chance. **

**All My love, god bless you all.**

**GL42**


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